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Alberta the leader in disturbing Canada’s landscape, says study

Alberta landscape disturbed by industry or agriculture totals about 410,000 square kilometres, according to a Global Forest Watch analysis.

A tailings pond in the oilsands near Fort McMurray, Alta. A new study says Alberta leads in the country in the most landscape disturbed by industry or agriculture. (Jeff McIntosh / THE CANADIAN PRESS file photo)

By Bob WeberThe Canadian Press

Mon., Jan. 13, 2014

EDMONTON—A national study suggests that Alberta has disturbed more natural landscape than any other province.

The analysis by Global Forest Watch adds that Wild Rose Country also has two of the three areas in Canada where the rate of disturbance is the highest.

“There were at least three major hot spots, two in Alberta,” said Peter Lee, an author of the report, Monday.

The report combines government data, satellite imagery and cropland maps to look at human intrusions in the last decade into all major Canadian ecozones. Those disruptions included everything from roads to seismic lines to clear-cuts to croplands.

“We took all the available credible data sets that we could find and combined them all,” said Lee. “We ended up with what we believe is the best available map of human footprint across Canada.”

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Alberta leads in the amount of land disturbed at about 410,000 square kilometres. Almost two-thirds of the province — 62 per cent — have seen industrial or agricultural intrusion.

Saskatchewan, at 46 per cent, is second among the larger provinces. Quebec comes nearest in area with 347,000 square kilometres.

The Maritime provinces actually have the highest rate of disturbance. The human footprint is 94 per cent of Prince Edward Island, 85 per cent of New Brunswick and 72 per cent of Nova Scotia.

But those provinces are so relatively small in area that the sum of disturbed land is dwarfed by totals elsewhere.

In addition, when Lee compared the current map to one developed about 10 years ago, he found two of three areas where the rate of development was highest were in Alberta as well. One was in the oilsands region; the other along the eastern slopes of the Rockies.

The third area is in a heavily logged part of northern Quebec. New intrusion in northeastern British Columbia, where there is extensive energy development, is almost as heavy.

Lee said development in the three top zones is pushing into previously untouched land at the rate of five to 10 kilometres a year.

The report’s calculations include a 500-metre buffer zone, which corresponds to the distance that animals such as woodland caribou tend to keep between themselves and development.

Duncan MacDonnell of Alberta Environment said the government has plans to set aside about 20 per cent of the remaining boreal forest, which covers the northern third of the province.

That includes about 20,000 square kilometres in the oilsands region. MacDonnell said Alberta plans to eventually combine old and new protected areas to create the largest connected boreal conservation area in North America.

Those plans haven’t been implemented and all are the subject of controversy with area aboriginals.

MacDonnell said the province is developing land-use plans for the entire province which are intended to balance pressures on the landscape.

Representatives from the federal government were not available for comment.

Lee notes his findings come at a time when Canadian and provincial policies on development are being increasingly scrutinized, whether they involve forestry, energy or agriculture. He said this sort of basic data-gathering should be done by Ottawa.

“It’s those sorts of general questions that the person in the street asks,” said Lee. “Where are all the disturbances in Canada? Where are the pristine areas?

“This is a simple monitoring analysis that should be done and could very easily be done by the feds ... (but) they’re not doing it.”

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